Austrian Universities:
Management caught between ambition and reality

Confronted with far-reaching international developments in the
areas of post-secondary education and research universities' management today is under strong pressure to perform.

A lot of energy is currently being put into the establishment of basic management tools such as modern accounting systems (in particular the implementation of the corresponding IT-infrastructure), which leaves very little room for strategic planning.

This, the fact that crucial appointments (in the area of top-management) are yet to be made, planned cuts in public funding and one in many respects unproductive "inter-regnum" (the current rector will be in office till october 2003) paralyse our universities in a decisive moment in their history.

Effective organisation

The future organisation of university units directly engaged in education and research is the central strategic issue and - at the same time - the most sensitive. Any effort to change the current settings traditionally faces strong internal restistance. Here, the vision of potent and autonomous institutes clashes with the idea of university where a central management has far-reaching authority in the process of strategic planning.

With regard to organisational reform there is little point in discussing in detail specific structural designs (be it the traditional model featuring institutes and faculties as core elements, or more reformist approaches, aiming at the creation of basic units, larger than existing institutes, eg. divisions, departments or centres), before those responsible are ready to accept that universities have to be made more flexible to master the challenges ahead. The consequence must be to redesign the basic structural model by which universities are run today.

Challenges 

The challenges universities face today are the optimal facilitation of interdisciplinary programmes in the areas of research and education, the creation of high-performing university units (relative to their international competitors) and the process of making the organisations more flexible, i.e. more capable to adapt to the fast-changing environment. The key lies in an innovative
(re)interpretation of the role of the traditional institutes as part of a university competing successfully on an international scale.

In Austria, this (re)intepretation has to happen now, as part of adapting to the new legal and financial framework set by the new law (UG 2002). If reform is put off but forced upon universities by the growing competition and ever tightening budgets, it will be increasingly harder to cope with.

posted: 07/2003